Kyoto Shisaku

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Vol.3

Supporting independent living of
the elderly using Android devices

Noriaki Kuwahara
Associate Professor, Kyoto Institute of Technology, engineering PhD in Cutting Edge fibro-science

Ryuji Kanda
Director of Kyoso Technology Co., Ltd.

Development moving forward

Associate Professor, Kyoto Institute of Technology, engineering PhD in Cutting Edge fibro-science

Noriaki Kuwahara

Kuwahara：
At this point for this project, we are distributing android to elderly people living at home, and putting the daily living program on it to evaluate how much it is hanging their level of independence. We will move forward on this during the second half of this year. And then, we’ll hold a display on August 25 2013 at Tokyo Big Site. We are also exhibiting along with Kyoto Medical University as part of the “Innovation Japan - University Fair & Business Matching” presented by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST).
This project is a joint venture between us and Kyoto Medical University, and Kyoto University, so we’ll present it together.
Kanda：
As an engineer it is very motivating for me to see something I worked in be exhibited, expanding out into the world.

For the future

Kuwahara：
As another matter, I am thinking of requesting more research and development from Kyoso Technology related to barrier free toilets for people in wheelchairs. For people using wheelchairs, going out and locating a toilet is very important information. Recently, locations with barrier-free toilets are listed on the web. The problem is looking them up and keeping the information up to date.
That’s where I am thinking about making a system that can access this information on the web for wheelchair-bound people.
The key technology within that is 3 dimensional measuring ― to use the wheelchair with Kinect. Kinect can make 3 dimensional measurements, so it can take 3-D photos of the toilet. We will collect 3D data from various directions while moving the wheelchair. Then we will merge that information with the 3D toilet space and upload it to the web. It’d be really interesting if we could make a web interface.
Kanda：
Helping society is wonderful.
Kuwahara：
Maintaining the information is difficult, so if we can come up with a way that the information will automatically be uploaded when someone uses that toilet, then it can be seen by other people too.
Kanda：
Where is the original concept for that?
Kuwahara：
From the voices on the ground. I have conversations with people who are disabled, who talk about how inconvenient it is ― like if information on toilets could be provided this way, or how inconvenient they are to use, etc. We can get a lot of ideas from the them, without having to consult with physicians.

Director of Kyoso Technology Co., Ltd.

Ryuji Kanda

Leave it to Kyoto Shisaku Net to Prototyping

A consortium of Japanese prototyping companies working to concretely realize the customer’s demands.
We can provide customization to accommodate for materials and intended use.

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